The Memorial Church community
For more than 80 years, Harvard’s Memorial Church — its dizzying white spire rising above Tercentenary Theatre — has been an important campus landmark, and a spiritual home for the community. Created as a memorial to honor the Harvard men and women who died during Word War I, as well as a worship space to accommodate a growing student body, it has served myriad roles over time. Built in the Georgian Revival style by architects Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch & Abbott in 1931, the church is at once a spiritual retreat; a lecture and concert hall; a space for reflection, laughter, and occasional tears; a welcoming haven for incoming freshmen; and a Commencement stage where seniors bid their farewells. But more than a building, Memorial Church is a diverse community of students, staff, congregants, and friends. That community lost one of its cherished own when the Rev. Peter J. Gomes, who had served...